| Criminal Justice – Prisoners' Rights |
| Adalah in Petition to Supreme Court: Allow Children of Political Prisoners Physical Contact with their Fathers during Visits |
| Unlike those classified as security prisoners, the children of criminal prisoners enjoy open visits with their fathers. On 23.8.2004, the Supreme Court ordered the Attorney General's Office to respond to the petition by 23.9.2004. |
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| On 31 August 2004, Supreme Court to Hear Petition re: Supplying Salt to Hunger-Striking Prisoners |
| After the prisoners' announcement of their hunger strike, the Israel Prison Service confiscated salt from prisoners' cells. The petition, submitted by Adalah and other human rights organizations, included expert medical opinions advising that the lack of salt could damage the health of the prisoners and endanger their lives. |
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| On 1 September 2004, Supreme Court to Hear Petition re: Limiting Attorneys’ Visits to Hunger-Striking Prisoners |
| The Israel Prison Service has been preventing lawyers from meeting with hunger-striking prisoners in Nafha, Nave Tirtza, Eshel and Gilboa prisons for three weeks as collective punishment for the strike.
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| Articles |
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The Unbelievable Lightness of False Confessions
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| Smadar Ben Natan, Advocate
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| Spheres of Hope in Spaceless Prisons |
Marwan Dalal, Advocate
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| Land, Planning and Justice |
| Adalah in the Name of Naqab Residents and the Alternative Planning Center: Plan for Kibbutz Shuval and Surrounding Area Disregards Land Rights of Arab Bedouin |
| The objection argued that the proposed plan contradicts articles of the Planning and Building Law, and was drafted without necessary authority, with the aim of imposing a new legal and planning reality on the ground. |
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| Adalah in a Position Paper Submitted to ILA Reform Committee: Proposed Exchange of Lands Between the Israel Lands Administration and the Jewish National Fund is Discriminatory and Contravenes the Principles of Equality and Just Distribution. |
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| Family Unification |
| UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD) Urges Israel to Revoke Discriminatory Citizenship Law
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CERD decision, 20 August 2004
CERD decision, 14 August 2003
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| Opening Remarks |
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Depriving persons of their right to freedom through incarceration does not deprive them of their humanity. These principles are enshrined in international human rights covenants and Israeli Supreme Court decisions dealing with prisoners’ rights. The rights of prisoners to dignity, bodily integrity, health, freedom of expression and contact with their family and children are guaranteed even while in prison.
This is not the case, however, in Israeli prisons. The rights of some 7,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are infringed on a daily basis by the Israel Prison Service (IPS). The IPS’s classification of prisoners as security prisoners directly impacts upon their rights within the prison walls. For example, they are deprived of the right to physical contact with their children. However, prisoners classified by the IPS as criminal prisoners, are entitled to regular furloughs and to benefit from a wide array of educational activities aimed at strengthening their relationship with their children.
Some 2,200 political prisoners are currently hunger striking in Israeli prisons, in protest against their deplorable conditions of confinement. They are protesting against physical violence and routine and humiliating strip searches; being prevented from hugging and kissing their children; delays in receiving adequate medical care; overcrowding in their cells; high monetary fines and other collective punishments.
The demands of the hunger-striking prisoners directly relate to their human rights. The IPS must respect and uphold these rights.
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